One of the most ambitious TV projects in the works right now is the upcoming God of War series from Amazon Prime Video. The series spans Greek and Norse myths featuring the god-killing Spartan warrior Kratos, but Amazon is choosing to adapt the rebooted Norse arc, rather than going back to the start (though perhaps in flashbacks).
It’s genuinely hard to imagine a show that is going to need more special effects than this, with its enormous monsters and wild fights, but another big challenge is casting. New reports have pinned two potential big roles, and I have to say, I’m liking the picks.
From insider DanielRPK, Max Parker is in talks to play Baldur, and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson is being considered for Thor (who would be showing up earlier than in the games). I am almost positive you don’t know these names, but Parker was recently in the hit show Boots:
Boots/God of War
Netflix/Sony Santa Monica
And Ólafsson had an extremely memorable turn in Severance season 2:
Severance/God of War
Apple/Sony Santa Monica
With this news, there has been some grumbling, which I understand, that the original voice actors are not mentioned for the parts here. That would be Justified actor Jeremy Davies as Baldur and Sons of Anarchy actor Ryan Hurst as Thor. It’s easier to imagine Hurst as Thor, given his look and size, than Davies as Baldur, but his voicework was iconic in that role.
That said, I see the vision for Max Parker, who has the look and was excellent in Boots, and Ólafsson, who I think is dead on for the Norse-accurate Thor in both look and voice. I think both these castings would work out great.
Of course, the biggest question of the series is who will play Kratos, which I would say is probably one of the hardest potential video game role castings of all time, given his look, size and the need for dramatic chops. I am having difficulty attempting to find more than a handful of bigger actors for the role. I keep landing on Dave Bautista, though he has recently opted to lose a lot of weight, not wanting to keep up his hulking physique forever. There’s also the younger Jason Momoa, perhaps, but with these potential casting picks here, I do wonder if they may pick someone who is less of a known quantity.
There is also the common request to have Kratos voice actor, Christopher Judge, fill the role. Yes, Kratos’ voice is an enormous part of his character, but I just cannot see Judge in the role leading a series like this, I’m sorry. I suspect Amazon may feel the same way if they’re moving away from the voice actors who would potentially make sense.
I really, really want to see how all this is going to go. This is ambitious, but these castings would be a solid start.
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